Great White Shark

Great White Shark

General Information

Real name:

First Appearance:

Created by:

Affiliations:

Gotham Organized Crime

Abilities:

The Great White Shark is incredibly intelligent, devious and manipulative.

Portrayed by:

None

A crooked financier who embezzled millions of dollars, Warren White thought he had scored a legal victory when his insanity plea went through. But when he got to Arkham Asylum, he realized his mistake; driven insane by the other inmates, he was disfigured by frostbite after an encounter in Mr. Freeze's cell that turned his skin chalk white and left him without hair, a nose, or lips. Calling himself the Great White Shark, he filed his teeth into points to better resemble his new namesake. Putting his financial skills to use, White has become a major player in Gotham's underground crime scene, running a number of rackets from his cell in Arkham.

Contents

Formerly crooked investor Warren "The Great White Shark" White, avoided prison time by pleading insanity and was sentenced to Arkham Asylum. There, among other indignities and tortures, White later attempted to get transferred to a minimum security prison. However, Dr. Anne Carver was revealed to have been killed and replaced by Jane Doe some months earlier. Her boss, Dr. Jeremiah Arkham orders that all the paperwork concerning White's transfer be destroyed in revenge for White robbing Arkham of his pension. Arkham regards White as the worst person he's ever met — a statement many other villains share, including the Joker, who states that while he's killed people, he's never stolen their kids's college funds.

Eventually, White is assaulted, defeated, and locked in a refrigeration unit used to house Mr. Freeze by Jane Doe, who was attempting to take over his identity.

His injuries, compiled with excessive frostbite, left White deformed. His skin turned a pale white, and the frostbite claimed his nose, lips, hair, and several of his fingers, leaving him very much resembling a great white shark and driven partially mad. He now uses his business connections to serve as a liaison and fence for many of his fellow inmates.

White next appears in the storyline Batman: Face the Face, which ran through Detective Comics #817-820 and Batman #651-654, as part of the larger One Year Later storyline. In the storyline, in which Batman and Robin disappeared for a year, the Great White Shark had established himself as Gotham's reigning crime boss.

Great White has now been using his mob connections (as well as the new Tally Man) to kill several villains associated with The Penguin as well as to frame Harvey Dent for their murders. Great White remains in Arkham, directing these actions from within as an alibi. Batman has since confronted him, and has threatened to tell Two-Face about the frame job, promising to let Two-Face have a shot at Great White when Two-Face is captured and returned to Arkham.

Despite his status as one of the city's most powerful criminals, the Great White Shark remains in Arkham, directing his empire from within his cell and using his imprisoned condition as a perfect alibi. He most recently appeared in Detective Comics #832, when Batman apprehends another villain who calls himself the Shark, a former member of the "Terrible Trio." When the Shark is sent to Arkham, the Great White Shark apparently plans to punish him for using the name White had claimed for himself.

After the supposed death of Batman, Warren White was one of the many criminals who was being transferred from Arkham Asylum to a secure place. Black Mask then drugs the criminals, which causes instant death at Mask's will. Acknowledging Black Mask as their leader, Warren and his group were armed to wreak havoc on the city once again by ending Two-Face and Penguin's reigns over Gotham and ultimately making Black Mask the supreme ruler of the underworld once again.

The Great White Shark is incredibly intelligent, devious and manipulative. He possesses brilliant financial skills, which he uses for a variety of criminal purposes. His scarred visage adds to his fearsomeness, making him truly resemble a shark in many ways.

In the The Batman animated movie, The Batman vs. Dracula, a character appears at the beginning bearing a striking similarity to the Great White Shark before his transformation. As with White, this unnamed character is in reality sane, but managed to plead insanity, ending up in Arkham, where he is slowly being driven insane by the other inmates ('I can not take one more day in the crazy house!'). As this character is unnamed, though, it is debatable as to whether this is Warren White, or simply a new character based on him.

While the Great White Shark does not appear in Batman: Arkham Asylum, a jar with his name on it appears in the asylum's morgue. The jar contains several human fingers, a nose and a pair of lips floating in formaldehyde, presumably those lost by White to frostbite. Two more jars like this can be found in a cabinent in the Medical Facility's secure access (the room where The Scarecrow used his fear gas on the guards and doctors). A Riddler question mark was found at the bottom of the page, where Riddler may need him for Underground purposes like Penguin, but on the opposite side of the war against Penguin.

BIT A GUARD LAST WEEK!
Psychological Profile: At best a mild psychopath upon admittance to the asylum, White has graduated into a full-blown case of antisocial personality disorder, partly due to maltreatment at the hands of his fellow inmates. After severe facial disfigurements by Mr. Freeze left him without lips, nose, ears, or hair, White filed down his teeth in an attempt to further differentiate himself from others. His sense of self is now completely dependent upon his identity as a dangerous criminal.

Additional Notes

Some of the guards are convinced that he is running criminal rackets out of the asylum. This has no bearing on his treatment and could provide valuable data regarding his condition.